The outro solo to "Only in Dreams," the final song on the album, is the subject of this ep. And after the guitarists spend a few minutes discussing Cuomo's inspirations, influences, and the production of both that album and the band's sleeper success, Pinkerton, Cuomo walks Shifty through the solo lick by lick. There's the sequence of octaves high up on the neck, colored by an unexpectedly placed major 7th chord ... and Cuomo's vibrato, which reminds Chris of Brian May. What shapes a guitarist's vibrato? “Must have something to do with your nerves between your brain and your fingers,” Cuomo says.
Before the recording of the album at Electric Lady Studios in NYC, Weezer's label insisted they work with a producer, which Cuomo rejected at first. Then he heard the Cars' "Just What I Needed" in the supermarket one day, and sought out the band's guitarist, Ric Ocasek. Ocasek was the one to push Cuomo to record an outro solo over the previously stripped-down, rhythm-section-based final three minutes of "Only in Dreams." After weeks of Ocasek's encouragement, Cuomo found himself alone in the studio one weekend and improvised his way through the solo. "This might be hard to believe, but when we started out, we were much more like a hippie band," Cuomo explains, describing his past devotion to Trey Anastasio. As it turns out, part of the "Only in Dreams" solo came out of Weezer's jamming portions of the song during their live shows.
Credits
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering Support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Gregory Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
One day, I asked a friend if he’d fancy having a bass (he’s the lead guitarist in one of the bands I play in). He jumped on the opportunity and brought me an early-’80s, walnut-finished, Italian-made Gherson SG copy. He said he liked it, but it was too heavy for him. He also said his Gibson SG is much lighter and so it became his go-to guitar.
The Gherson wasn’t in its best shape and needed to be serviced. The humbucker rings were swollen, the original bridge was replaced (it had a black Gotoh ABR-1 bridge), the logo was almost completely gone, and the electronics were rather dusty. Nevertheless, the guitar was still in a playable state.
As someone who really likes power pop and post-punk music, I saw a late-’70s performance of the Cars playing “Just What I Needed.” At the first palm-muted chord, I noticed that the late Ric Ocasek played a heavily modified, walnut-finished ’70s Gibson SG.
The Gherson looked rather similar, so I decided to modify it as a tribute to Ocasek’s guitar (at least visually).
I bought the following parts: a cream-colored DiMarzio PAF ’59 humbuckers set, cream pickup rings, cream toggle knob, cream toggle surround, chrome Gotoh Nashville bridge, faux pearl Gherson logo for headstock restoration, a dead spot 75 mm mirror, four aged black speed knobs, and a relic-style Cars’ logo.
I took the guitar to my local tech, Yotam Harduf, for modifications. He remarked that I bought the correct parts and matched everything rather well. Still, he needed to do some mods, especially with the pickups’ legs as these were rather long (like in old PAFs). He also set the guitar up to perfection.
The coolest part is that I’ve befriended Elliot Easton, who was the lead guitarist in the Cars. I sent the guitar scratch plate to him in California to be personally signed by him.
Although this is by no means an exact replica of Ocasek’s guitar, the first song I played once I got it back was (you guessed it) … “Just What I Needed.”
The guitar sounds fatter and punchier with some balls (I didn’t have a twin humbuckers guitar before). It’s a sound that I haven’t experienced as I’m accustomed to a brighter sound. (I play mostly Telecasters.) It made me want to bash a lot of chords and palm mute the strings. Also, due to the generally hot nature of the pickups, it made me turn up the amp volume and overdrive the amp.
I really love the new sound and feel that the guitar is really mine now that I’ve given it my own personal touch. I’ve nicknamed my guitar “Candy-O,” after the Cars’ hit from 1979.
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